Purdue expert: Retailers use price matching to fight 'showrooming'

October 22, 2012

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - With the holiday season
approaching, retailers are using price matching to actively fight
"showrooming," which is when consumers come into a store to benefit
from sales staff expertise and then buy online, says a Purdue University
expert.

To combat showrooming, retailers need to match pricing
online as well as in competitors' brick-and-mortar stores, says Richard
Feinberg, a professor of consumer science and retailing.

"Retailers know that they are better off making less
profit on the merchandise than losing the sale completely," Feinberg says.

Offering to price match attracts the most price-sensitive
consumers, Feinberg says. "And our research suggests this improves brand
image, even if the consumer doesn't make use of the price match."

He also says research shows that more than half the time,
consumers who use price match buy other items that don't qualify for price
match. That tendency helps retailers recover the cost of the price match.

Feinberg offers two cautions to consumers:

* Read the fine print. Some price-matching policies are
restrictive, and a slight variation in a product may disqualify it from a price
match.

* Some retailers don't advertise price match. The only way
to find out if it is offered is to ask. In fact, he says, retailers are so
anxious to keep customers that they may agree to a price match even if it isn't
policy.